Darkest Before the Dawn
by Thorne Lockehart
Summary: Quinn-Leigh "Quinn" Hawthorne was the type of girl that was expected to be the strong one of her family. When she moves to La Push after an accident, can she let Jacob Black in? Jake/OC, mentions of Seth/OC and Embry/OC AU, takes place during "Breaking Dawn" after the wedding and during Bella's pregnancy, before Jake breaks from the pack.
1. Chapter 1: You Have Arrived

_**A/N: Okay, so I tried writing a Seth/OC story without much feedback and that sort of killed my muse for it. I hope things are different this time around x.x**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I do, however, own my original characters. **_

_**Summary: Quinn-Leigh "Quinn" Hawthorne was the type of girl that was expected to be the strong one of her family. When she moves to La Push after an accident, can she let Jacob Black in? **_

_**Jake/OC, mentions of Seth/OC and Embry/OC AU, takes place during "Breaking Dawn" after the wedding and during Bella's pregnancy, before Jake breaks from the pack.**_

* * *

_There will be no fade-out, this is not the end  
I'm down now, but I'll be standing tall again  
Times are hard, but I was built tough  
I'm gonna show you all what I'm made of_

_I've been brought down to my knees  
And I've been pushed way past the point of breaking  
But I can take it, I'll be back, back on my feet  
This is far from over, you haven't seen the last of me_

__Cher — You Haven't Seen the Last of Me (I'm not a big Cher fan, but this song is definitely worth a listen C: )

* * *

That old saying "life isn't fair" got tossed around a lot and it hadn't rang truer for Quinn-Leigh Celeste Hawthorne than now. It had been six months since her parents died in a car accident and now she had to leave the only home she'd ever known to live with the cousin she'd never met in a place she'd never been to.

Quinn tucked a lock of her red hair out of her face and stared at the magazine on her lap blankly. The words came together and didn't make sense. Her sister, Annabel snored loud in the seat next to her, a neck pillow supporting her head with a black blindfold on her face. They were seven hours into their eight-hour flight and it seemed as though Washington couldn't come slower.

"Dammit, Annie, can you shut the hell up?" Quinn nudged her sister in the ribs. Annabel snorted and bolted up in her seat, her dark brown hair flying. She pulled her blindfold up and she blinked her brown eyes against the light of the cabin of the plane. "You're gonna wake the dead!"

"What was that for?" she demanded angrily.

"You're snoring louder than the plane's engine, I could hear you over my music!" Quinn said in a hushed voice. She stuck her ear-buds back in her ears, leaning back against the seat. Grunge rock soothed her and she'd hidden in their comforting sounds during the aftermath of the accident. Her fingers reflexively traced the scar on her shoulder through the green-checked pullover she wore and she shook her head. To this day, she cringed when she heard splintering glass or the sound of brakes screeching.

Doctors of all sorts tossed all sorts of diagnoses around like "post-traumatic stress disorder" and "obsessive compulsive disorder" at her after the accident. Both made her sound like some sort of freak.

Quinn stared out the window of the plane, watching the skies go from Carolina blue to pale gold, lavender, and rich red with the sunset. She drummed her fingers along her knee through the fabric of her frayed blue jeans, her forehead resting against the glass. Annabel had a fear of heights. That gave her the aisle seat automatically. That meant she could get her elbows knocked by the beverage carts until the plane finally descended on the ground.

She felt someone tap her frantically on the shoulder and she looked over to see Annabel pulling an ear-bud out.

"What do you want to drink?" Annabel asked. Quinn rolled her eyes and put her ear-bud back into her ear.

"Water," she replied, tucking her bag closer to her body. She couldn't wait until they could get off the stupid plane and sleep. It was three hours earlier than on the East Coast, so it would be a while until she could get used to it. She took a swig of the water bottle offered and turned her attention back to the window.

It was a long flight ahead.

* * *

The airport in Port Angeles bustled with activity and the two sisters held hands in trying to stay together. It was nearly impossible not to get lost in the sea of people and be separated from each other. Sweat beaded on the back of Quinn's neck from the increased heat. She could feel her knee aching from the increase in barometric pressure.

"Can you see them from here?" she asked. If she was honest, she had never met her mother's family. Bree-Anne Young was Irish-Native American from the Quileute reservation in La Push. They hadn't approved of their only daughter marrying Daniel Hawthorne and hadn't met any of the three children she'd given birth to. P.J. attended college at Columbia and Annabel had only just graduated high school.

"Nope. You think they're so pissed at Mama that they decided they didn't want us after all?" Annabel fretted. Her grip tightened on her younger sister's hand and Quinn squeezed it reassuringly.

"Quinn-Leigh Celeste and Annabel Jane," a female voice came from behind them. Quinn looked over her shoulder to see a pretty woman with straight raven hair hanging loose over her shoulders. A pair of nearly black eyes stared back at her, a friendly smile on her copper-colored face. It was hard not to stare at the ugly scars that covered half her body, like they were two different people. But when the smile broadened, it seemed as though the scars faded with the mega-watt gesture. "So nice to put a face with the name! I'm your cousin, Emily!"

This was the relative that kept in contact with their family. Quinn accepted a hug from the strange woman, smells of the woods and the wild filling her senses. It was difficult to not like Emily. She was warm and sweet.

"Nice to meet you," Quinn said in surprise. Back home in North Carolina, not many people were so welcoming and friendly. She looked up to see a massively tall man with similar dark hair and russet-colored skin. He had the body of a serious body-builder and he towered over her by a foot, at the very least. Then again, at five-foot three, Quinn would be considered petite anyways.

"Sam, can you help with their bags?" Emily requested, turning her dark gaze up to meet her companion's. Immediately, he helped by picking up the massive suitcases as if they were lighter than feathers. "So, it's pretty rainy today. Does it rain a lot where you're from?"

The day of their departure had been hot and humid with brilliant sunshine. When they stepped out of the heated airport and into the cold, rainy outdoors, her knee went from a dull ache to a throbbing pain.

"Quinn, are you okay?" Annabel asked, her slender hand sliding across her younger sister's back to help her stand. Quinn nodded in reassurance to her and rubbed the joint of her knee through her jeans.

"Need some help?" Emily inquired, helping Sam with their carry-on bags and setting them in the back of a large SUV. Quinn shook her head and tucked her rucksack closer to her body. The car was thankfully warm and dry. Her eyelids stung from the lack of sleep and she nestled closer to the window, resting her head against the cool glass. It was all-too easy to drift off to sleep.

* * *

At Emily's insistence, there was a welcoming party at her house that night and she'd invited the pack to meet her estranged cousins. Jake definitely didn't feel like he was ready to party. After the train-wreck that was Bella's wedding to Edward Cullen, he wasn't ready to go out and meet people. He'd felt kicked around too much for his own liking.

He spotted Seth with his arms around Sam's sister. Seth drank in Faylon's words like a thirsty man as she told him about her day in minute detail. Imprinting was disgusting, as far as Jacob Black was concerned. Being so frighteningly obsessed with someone for whom they would sacrifice their lives to keep them happy? It was unnatural.

He spotted a tall brunette standing in the kitchen with a red plastic cup in her hand. A pair of dark eyes raised to meet his browns and her pink lips flicked up in a smile. Jake couldn't help but notice that she was pretty. She wore a knee-length denim skirt and a teal sweater, her pretty eyes smudged with eyeliner.

Emily appeared in the doorway of the tiny room, beaming him a bright smile. "Jake!" she greeted him. Jake hugged her small body against his larger frame. "This is Annabel Hawthorne, one of my cousins."

He shook hands with the brunette.

"Where's Quinn-Leigh? Last I saw, she was somewhere with Ronnie and Faylon," Emily commented. Jake pointed over his shoulder at Seth cuddling with Faylon.

"She's probably off somewhere by herself. She doesn't like being in big crowds of people all the time. It's her way of removing herself from the equation without raising much of a fuss," Annabel explained. "It's nothing personal, it's just Quinn."

"Annie, can you come here?"

Jake's head turned and he could feel his attention zoning into a female voice with a gentle Southern accent. He couldn't pinpoint where the girl with the voice, but he found himself wanting to find out.

Annabel excused herself and disappeared down the hall. "I'm coming, Quinn," she called. Jake stood in the kitchen, trying to keep himself from being squished into the cabinets and into Emily's beloved white counter-tops.

When Annabel returned, she had a petite redhead on her arm. A pair of pretty chocolate-brown eyes met Jake's and his heart caught in his chest. The world seemed to come to a screeching halt as a warm glow began to overtake him. Seth and Embry had explained imprinting as something that released everything that made Jacob Black himself and made him a whole new person.

He could feel his entire world changing right before his eyes.

No, it wasn't changing, it was more like a shift. A transition.

Quinn-Leigh was the center of his newly changed universe and Jake could feel his inner wolf baying its approval at the girl before him.

Quinn-Leigh was his Emily Young, his Claire Young, his Faylon Uley, his Rontu Ateara, and his Rachel Black. No, Quinn-Leigh wasn't any of those women.

She was now _his. _

"Jake, this is my other cousin, Quinn-Leigh Hawthorne," Emily introduced them. "Quinn-Leigh, this is Jacob Black, one of the kids who lives here at La Push."

"Emily, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Quinn?" the pretty redhead admonished her, a glimmer of teasing lighting up her eyes. Then she faced Jake and her full pink lips flicked upward in a shy smile as she extended a small hand toward him. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he found himself replying. Her smile widened, crinkling her nose and the corners of her eyes. He could see a small spatter of freckles decorating her otherwise creamy skin.

With a jolt, he realized that he just imprinted on his Alpha's imprint's cousin.

Damn.


	2. Chapter 2: Broken

_**A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I've updated this...life's been crazy!  
**_

_**For anyone wondering, I've based Quinn-Leigh on actress Shenae Grimes and I've based Faylon Uley on Vanessa Hudgens, Rontu "Ronnie" Ateara on Naya Rivera, and Laura Prepon on Annabel  
**_

_**Catherine: Thank you! C:  
**_

_**AW: I just have to say that I was really blown away by your words of encouragement! Thank you so much for that very sweet review, it really made me feel better. I do have issues with lack of reviews; I always joke that reviews feed Melody (my muse) but this gave me the drive to do this chapter. Thank you so much! :)  
**_

* * *

_The broken locks were a warning  
You got inside my head  
I try my best to be guarded  
I'm an open book instead  
I still see your reflection inside my eyes  
They're looking for purpose  
They're still looking for life_

_And I'm hanging on another day  
Just to see what you will throw my way  
And I'm hanging on to the words you say  
You said that I will be okay  
_

_The broken lights on the freeway  
Left me here alone  
I may have lost my way now  
I haven't forgotten my way home  
_

Lifehouse - Broken

* * *

Quinn couldn't sleep. After unpacking the majority of her clothes, she finally fell asleep at four in the morning. And even after her eyes closed, she felt restless. Her mind raced with the events that occurred earlier on in the day, every little noise made her eyes fly awake. When she heard movement in the kitchen, she decided to make an appearance.

Emily's dark head poked from the fridge. Annabel was nowhere to be found. "You're up early," she commented in a stage whisper. She was already dressed, wearing a pair of ripped, loose-fitting jeans and a red plaid camp shirt, her raven hair pulled back in a tight pony-tail.

Quinn shrugged and played with the drawstring on her black gaucho pants. "I couldn't sleep," she admitted. She watched her cousin pull massive bowls of eggs out of the fridge, along with pounds and pounds of bacon. "Would you like some help?"

Emily smiled gratefully and opened the door wider. "Actually, I would love some help scrambling all these eggs. Sam mentors a bunch of kids here on the reservation and they all come over for breakfast," she requested. She pulled out two huge frying pans and set them on the stove. "If you'd put the innards of the eggs in those glass bowls and stir them up, I would really appreciate it."

Quinn reached up and pulled down the glass bowls Emily pointed to. She carefully set them on the counter and began cracking eggs. When bacon sizzled on a griddle on the counter, she felt her stomach growl.

"Wow, even _I _heard that," Emily commented with a wider smile. She plucked a piece of bacon draining on a paper towel and popped it in her mouth. "Go ahead and eat some." Quinn felt a flicker of a smile, despite herself. "So, I'm sorry if I overcrowded you with having a few people over. I've been talking about you a lot and they really wanted to meet you."

"Oh, I didn't mind at all. I just pretty much go with the flow," she assured her. "I met a couple of the girls and I really liked them."

"Yeah, I noticed you hanging out with Faylon, Ronnie, and Kim. They're really sweet girls," Emily offered. "It's pretty much a boys' club, so they like to hang out with me before school and after school. Actually, they should be coming here pretty soon." She craned her neck in time to hear the screen door squeak and the front door opening.

Quinn heard a rustle of boys walking through the front door and her head lifted to see Jake Black from last night leading the way. His dark brown eyes met hers and she felt her face warm.

_This is stupid. You two met last night and you're already flipping out over him? So what if he's probably one of the hottest guys you've ever seen and he's staring at you. Play it cool, _she thought.

"Hey, Em, where's the food?" Quil called. Emily hushed him with a frown.

"Annabel's still sleeping, Quil. I swear to God, I will knock you into next week if you wake her up!" she scolded.

"My sister sleeps like the dead, don't even worry about it," Quinn submitted. She finished stirring up the eggs and carefully handed the bowl to Emily. "Is there anything else I can do to help?"

"Just try to get some sleep. You look like you haven't slept all night," Emily told her, squeezing her shoulders. "Fay, Ronnie, and Kim can take over for you."

Quinn nodded and rubbed her eyes, her shoulders shrinking forward. "Thanks," she said gratefully. It felt as if fatigue crashed down on her out of nowhere.

When she flopped down, her eyes fluttered shut immediately.

* * *

Jake watched her go carefully. Quinn looked absolutely exhausted. Dark circles rimmed under her pretty brown eyes, her shoulders hunched forward, her arms folded over her tiny frame. She wore a pair of flared black sweatpants and a dark gray Led Zeppelin T-shirt, her red hair hanging in her face.

"You've stared at her since we got here. What is up with you two?" Embry asked. Jake shook his head and looked away from her. He could sense Sam going rigid next to him.

"Nothing's up. You're imagining things," he wrote it off. Seth shoved him playfully, ruffling his short hair. "Leah, get your brother before Fay loses her boyfriend."

"Bitch, you can try!" Faylon snorted from the kitchen as she closed cabinets. "I need someone tall to help me get the seasoning salt from the top shelf."

Immediately, Seth moved away from Jake and towards his imprint. Faylon smiled up at him and stood flat foot on the floor again when he pulled the jar of seasoning salt down.

"See? This is how you treat someone," she informed them. Jake rolled his eyes and shook his head. Young love was such a powerful thing, even more powerful with the strength of an imprint. He glanced over to see Ronnie and Embry talking quietly to each other. Quil's family had adopted Ronnie when she was an infant and grew up with them. Now she and Embry were together. It seemed like the wolves and their imprints were matched up based on personality traits. Seth was childlike and occasionally immature (then again, he was only fifteen) and Faylon was occasionally immature, but very grownup somehow. Embry was serious and gentle, Ronnie was the pack equivalent of Rosalie, but much less selfish. Emily was the quintessential mother hen, Sam their father figure. "Staring at the door won't make her come out any sooner," Fay snarked at him.

Jake could feel Sam's eyes on him, watching him intently and he tried to ignore it. Sam could tell if someone imprinted and he wasn't an idiot. It took him a moment to contain himself when he found out about Seth imprinting on Fay, Sam's half-sister.

"Come walk with me," Sam told him. Jake listened closely to his tone. It wasn't a harsh or a dark tone. "I'll be right back and I've given Emily and the girls permission to smack any of you that cross the line."

"Yes!" Fay chimed in, earning a gentle glare from her brother. Jake got off his stool and followed his Alpha out of the small house. He could hear the chatter in the house, as well as snores and gentle breathing. He heard the snores when he came in earlier, so that meant Annabel and Quinn were still sleeping.

"I know the look, Jacob," Sam commented once they reached the trees. His dark eyes rested on him and Jake blew out a breath. "You've imprinted now, haven't you?"

"On Quinn, yeah. It happened here last night," he admitted. It felt like he finally knew what everyone went on about when they talked about their imprints. He finally figured out why Embry was so affected by a wrinkle of Ronnie's nose when she smiled or why Seth found Fay's jokes especially funny, even when they weren't, or why Quil was so delighted with just about everything Claire said or did. He finally understood why Jared thought about Kim constantly, why Sam stuck so close to Emily (beside obvious reasons) and why Paul was such a jackass to everyone but Rachel. "All it took was one second and everything changed, Sam."

"Sometimes, that's all it takes."

* * *

Quinn could distinctly hear the waves crashing on the shore from Emily's porch and leaned her head back against the worn wood of the peeling rocking chair, propping her bare feet on the railing, examining the sterling silver anklet she wore around her right ankle, the three tiny feathers dangling from it. The lack of city sounds here in La Push felt soothing to her, like she could get away from the hustle and bustle of her hometown and relax. It was warmish today, Emily said. The late summer sun shone brightly through a thin veil of clouds, the wet smell of the early morning still clung to the air. Everything in Washington was very green, the people were friendly. It was therapeutic, to say the least.

"You doing okay, Quinn?"

She looked up to see Annabel sitting on the stoop, her arms wrapped loosely around her legs. Annabel wore a short denim skirt, a yellow tank top, and a pair of flip-flops, her messy dark hair pulled up in a pony-tail. Even after all that sleep, dark circles began to mar her sister's usually flawless complexion.

"As okay as I can be," Quinn replied, staring off at the deep green jungle around them. "I have to talk to a guidance councilor when I start school next week with weekly sessions."

"It's just to affirm what we already know; physically, you're fine..." Annabel trailed off, gesturing with her hands.

"I had another nightmare last night," Quinn admitted. It was always the same one, where she sat in the backseat of the car while it sped down the road and her father swerved to miss a deer that jumped in front of it. She tried yelling at her father to slow down, but no sound would come out.

When the car hit the tree, she would bolt upright in bed, covered in sweat and panting. Her therapist said it came from a sense of regret and powerlessness, along with deep-rooted guilt.

Guilt was something she learned to live with. It pressed on her heavily day after day, but she knew she had to keep marching on. It faded every now and again. There were days where she could function like a normal teenager and there were days she laid in bed, suffering from crippling depression. She still felt guilty for being the only survivor, but that guilt would get her nowhere.

"Same one?" Annabel commented, looking up at her. Quinn nodded and leaned her head back once more, closing her eyes tightly. "Honey, you have got to let this guilt go. Mom and Daddy wouldn't want you blaming yourself and feeling guilty for something that wasn't your fault."

"Why did they have to die?" she whispered, brushing a stray tear from her face. She sniffled and shook her head, standing up. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore."

"You're going to have to learn to someday, you know," Annabel reminded her.

"Today is not that day," Quinn answered honestly.


End file.
